Parallel-connected resonant converter circuit and controlling method thereof

ABSTRACT

The configurations of a parallel-connected resonant converter circuit and a controlling method thereof are provided in the present invention. The proposed circuit includes a plurality of resonant converters, each of which has two input terminals and two output terminals, wherein all the two input terminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electrically series-connected, and all the two output terminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electrically parallel-connected.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/394,571 filed on Feb. 27, 2009; the entirety of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a parallel-connected resonant DC/DCconverter circuit and a controlling method thereof, which can beemployed to realize a current balance among converters when theswitching frequencies of all the converters are the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The developing trend of the DC/DC converter is just like that of themost of the power supply products, that is—high efficiency. The resonantDC/DC converter is easier to realize the high efficiency due to itsfeature of soft-switching. However, there are still certain existingdrawbacks regarding the resonant DC/DC converter, e.g., the high accurrent of the output filter of the series resonant DC/DC converterresulting in the high power loss and the large volume of the outputfilter.

FIGS. 1( a)-1(d) are schematic circuit diagrams of several kinds ofresonant DC/DC converter circuit. FIG. 1( a) shows a series resonantconverter which includes a DC power source providing an input voltageVin, a first and a second switches S1-S2, a resonant capacitor Cs and anoutput capacitor Co wherein the output voltage Vo can be gotten on it,an inductor Ls, a transformer T, diodes D1-D2 and load Ro. Thedifferences between FIG. 1( b) and FIG. 1( a) are that a capacitor Cp isparallel-connected to the primary side of the transformer T; theresonant capacitor Cs is omitted; and an inductor Lr among the secondaryside of the transformer T, the diode D1 and the output capacitor Co isadded. FIG. 1( c) shows a parallel resonant converter, e.g. an LCCresonant converter and the difference between FIG. 1( c) and FIG. 1( b)is that the resonant capacitor Cs connected in series with the inductorLs is added. The difference between FIG. 1( d) and FIG. 1( a) is that amagnetizing inductor Lm is parallel-connected to the primary side of thetransformer T. Taking the example of the LLC series resonant DC/DCconverter as shown in FIG. 1( d), the operating waveforms are shown inFIG. 2. S1 and S2 indicates the driving signals of the switches S1-S2respectively; i_(s) and i_(m) are currents flowing through the resonantinductor Ls and the magnetizing inductor Lm respectively; i_(m) has thevalues of I_(m) and −I_(m) respectively when switches S1 and S2 areturned off; Vds 1 is the voltage between the drain and the source of theswitch S1; i_(D1) and i_(D2) are current waveforms of the outputrectifying diodes D1 and D2; Io is the output current of the converter;i_(D1)+i_(D2)−Io is the current flowing through the output filter(output capacitor) Co; Vcs is the voltage across capacitor Cs; and allthe waveforms in FIG. 2 operate in six intervals (t0-t1, t1-t2, . . .and t5-t6) per period, and iterate from the seventh interval(t6=t0). Andsince i_(D1) and i_(D2) have larger ripples, the ac current value of theoutput filter (output capacitor) Co is large which results in large sizeof Co and high power loss of the converter.

To decrease the ac current of the output filter (output capacitor) Co,the interleaved method is always used to control the resonantconverters, wherein the interleaved method means that at least twoconverters operate at substantially the same frequency and with somephase φ (0°<φ<360°) shifted between them. However, some problems stillexist due to the characteristics of the resonant converters.

When the interleaved control method is adopted, the resonant convertersoperating at the substantially the same frequency and with some phaseshifted between them are always connected in parallel at a common outputfilter and their input terminals are all connected together. Thus the accurrent of the output filter (e.g. the output capacitor) Co is cancelledand the effect of the cancellation is the function of the shifted phaseφ so that the size of the output filter (output capacitor) Co isdecreased. The interleaved control method is widely used in PWMconverters since they operate at constant frequency and could regulatethe output voltage and the current through changing the duty ratio suchthat the current balance between the interleaved PWM converters is easyto be realized. While in a resonant converter, the regulations of theoutput voltage and the current are realized through changing thefrequency. If the resonant converters are forced to operate in the samefrequency, the current balance between the interleaved resonantconverters is hard to be realized due to their differentcharacteristics. On the contrary, if each converter regulates thevoltage and the current on its own so as to realize the current balance,they could not operate at the same switching frequency so as to lose theadvantage of the controlling method for the interleaved andparallel-connected configuration.

Keeping the drawbacks of the prior arts in mind, and employingexperiments and research full-heartily and persistently, the applicantfinally conceived a parallel-connected resonant DC/DC converter circuitand a controlling method thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aparallel-connected resonant DC/DC converter circuit and a controllingmethod thereof, which can be employed to realize a current balance amongconverters when the switching frequencies of all the converters are thesame.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, aparallel-connected resonant converter circuit includes a plurality ofresonant converters, each of which has two input terminals and twooutput terminals, wherein all the two input terminals of the pluralityof resonant converters are electrically series-connected, and all thetwo output terminals of the plurality of resonant converters areelectrically parallel-connected.

Preferably, the circuit further includes a DC power source having apositive and a negative terminals, an output capacitor, and a pluralityof input capacitors, each of the plurality of input capacitors has afirst and a second terminals and is electrically parallel-connected tothe two input terminals of a corresponding one of the plurality ofresonant converters, wherein the output capacitor is electricallyparallel-connected to the two output terminals of each the resonantconverter, and the series-connected resonant converters are connected inparalleled with the DC power source at the positive and the negativeterminals.

Preferably, each the resonant converter is one of a series resonantDC/DC converter and a parallel resonant DC/DC converter.

Preferably, the series resonant DC/DC converter is an LLC seriesresonant DC/DC converter.

Preferably, the parallel resonant DC/DC converter is an LCC parallelresonant DC/DC converter.

Preferably, the plurality of resonant converters are operating atsubstantially the same frequency.

Preferably, the plurality of resonant converters are operating under aninterleaved mode.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, aparallel-connected resonant converter circuit includes a first resonantconverter having two input terminals and two output terminals, a secondresonant converter having two input terminals and two output terminals,wherein the two input terminals of the second resonant converter areelectrically series-connected with the two input terminals of the firstresonant converter, and the two output terminals of the second resonantconverter are electrically parallel-connected with the two outputterminals of the first resonant converter.

Preferably, the circuit further includes a DC power source having apositive and a negative terminals, an output capacitor and a first and asecond input capacitors, wherein the first and the second inputcapacitors are electrically parallel-connected with the two inputterminals of the first and the second resonant converters respectively,the output capacitor is electrically parallel-connected with the twooutput terminals of the first and the second resonant converters, eachof the first and the second input capacitors has a first and a secondterminals, the first terminal of the first input capacitor is coupled tothe positive terminal, the second terminal of the first input capacitoris coupled to the first terminal of the second input capacitor, and thesecond terminal of the second input capacitor is coupled to the negativeterminal.

Preferably, the first and the second resonant converters are operatingunder an interleaved mode.

Preferably, each of the first and the second resonant converters is anLLC series resonant DC/DC converter.

Preferably, the first and the second resonant converters operate with90° phase shifted.

Preferably, the first and the second resonant converters are operatingat substantially the same frequency.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a controllingmethod for a parallel-connected resonant converter circuit, wherein thecircuit includes a plurality of resonant converters, each of which hastwo input terminals and two output terminals, all the two inputterminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electricallyseries-connected, and all the two output terminals of the plurality ofresonant converters are electrically parallel-connected, includes stepsof: (a) causing an input current flowing through the two input terminalsof a specific one of the plurality of resonant converters to rise whenan output current flowing through the two output terminals of thespecific resonant converter rises; (b) causing an input voltage acrossthe two input terminals of the specific resonant converter to decreasewhen the input current flowing through the two input terminals of thespecific resonant converter rises; (c) causing an input voltage acrossthe two input terminals of at least one of the remaining ones of theplurality of resonant converters to rise when the input voltage acrossthe two input terminals of the specific resonant converter decreases;(d) causing an output current flowing through the two output terminalsof at least one of the remaining resonant converter to rise when theinput voltage across the two input terminals of at least one of theremaining resonant converter rises; and (e) reaching the balance betweenthe specific resonant converter and at least one of the remaining ofresonant converters when a ratio between the output current flowingthrough the two output terminals of the specific resonant converter andthe output current flowing through the at least one of the remainingresonant converters equals to a ratio between a reciprocal of a DCvoltage gain of the specific resonant converter and a reciprocal of a DCvoltage gain of the at least one of the remaining resonant converter.

Preferably, the plurality of resonant converters includes a first and asecond resonant converters, the specific resonant converter is the firstresonant converter and the remaining one is the second resonantconverter.

Preferably, the plurality of resonant converters are operating under aninterleaved mode.

Preferably, the plurality of resonant converters are operating atsubstantially the same frequency.

The present invention may best be understood through the followingdescriptions with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1( a) shows a circuit diagram of a series resonant DC/DC converterin the prior art;

FIG. 1( b) shows a circuit diagram of a parallel resonant DC/DCconverter in the prior art;

FIG. 1( c) shows a circuit diagram of an LCC parallel resonant DC/DCconverter in the prior art;

FIG. 1( d) shows a circuit diagram of an LLC series resonant DC/DCconverter in the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows operating waveforms of an LLC series resonant DC/DCconverter in the prior art;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a circuit having Ninterleaved and parallel-connected resonant converters according to thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a circuit having twointerleaved and parallel-connected resonant converters according to thesecond preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a circuit diagram of a circuit having two interleaved andparallel-connected resonant converters according to the second preferredembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 shows operating waveforms of a circuit having two interleaved andparallel-connected resonant converters according to the second preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIG. 3, it is a schematic circuit diagram of a circuithaving N parallel-connected resonant converters operating in interleavedmode according to the first preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. In which, it includes a DC power source, input capacitorsC1-Cn, a first to a nth resonant converters and an output capacitor Coproviding an output voltage. All the DC inputs of the DC/DC resonantconverters are series-connected, all the outputs of the DC/DC resonantconverters are parallel-connected, and the switching frequencies of allthe converters are substantially the same.

Taking the example of two parallel-connected resonant converters asshown in FIG. 4, it includes a DC power source Vin, a first and a secondresonant converters, a first and a second input capacitors C1-C2, and anoutput capacitor Co providing an output voltage Vo.

Vin1 and Vin2 indicate the input voltages of the first and the secondresonant converters respectively; Iin1 and Iin2 are the DC components ofthe input current of the first and the second resonant convertersrespectively; and Io1 and Io2 are the DC components of the outputcurrents of the first and the second resonant converters respectively.Assuming that M1 and M2 are the DC voltage gains of the first and thesecond resonant converters respectively, i.e. M1=Vo/Vin1 and M2=Vo/Vin2,then Io1=Iin1/M1 and Io2=Iin2/M2 under a stable status according to theenergy conservation law. Due to that the inputs of the first and thesecond resonant converters are series-connected, Iin1=Iin2 under thestable status, thus Io1/Io2=M2/M1=Vin1/Vin2.

If the first and the second resonant converters belong to the same typeand have the same design parameters, the two resonant converters stillmay have different gains under the same frequency due to thediscrepancies of the actual value of their elements such that the outputcurrents are different. And the difference between the two outputcurrents is determined by the difference between the gains of the tworesonant converters.

If the parallel-connected first and second resonant converters belong tothe same type but have different design parameters, or the first and thesecond resonant converters belong to the different types, e.g., thefirst resonant converter is a series resonant converter while the secondresonant converter is a parallel resonant converter, then the gains ofthe first and the second resonant converters under the same frequencymay be different, and the output currents are different. The differencebetween the two output currents is determined by the difference betweenthe gains of the first and the second resonant converters. The inputvoltages of the first and the second resonant converters Vin1 and Vin2are proportional to their gains since their outputs areparallel-connected.

No matter what kind of aforementioned parallel-connections is employed,if an external disturbance causes Io1/Io2>M2/M1 at a specific momentunder a dynamic status, that is to say the current of Io1 is increased,which results in Iin1>Iin2 such that Vin1 decreases, and Vin2 increasesso as to force Io2 to rise until Io1/Io2=M2/M1, thus a balance point isreached again. Thus, this circuit has the capability of automaticallybalancing the output currents of the first and the second resonantconverters.

FIG. 4 is a schematic circuit diagram of a circuit having twoparallel-connected resonant converters operating in interleaved modeaccording to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention.In FIG. 4, since the two parallel-connected resonant converters operatein interleaved mode which means they operate at substantially the sameswitching frequency and with some phase shifted between them and the accurrent of the output filter (output capacitor) Co is reduced, the lossof the converter is decreased and the volume of the output filter(output capacitor) Co is reduced. The difference between the outputcurrents of the first and the second resonant converters is determinedby the difference between the gains of the first and the second resonantconverters, and the balance point under the dynamic status can bereached automatically.

Similarly, in the circuit of FIG. 3, the parallel-connected resonantconverters could operate in interleaved mode with the same switchingfrequency such that the power loss of the converters is decreased andthe volume of the output filter (output capacitor) Co is also reduced.The difference between output currents of any two resonant converters isdetermined by the difference between the gains of those two resonantconverters, and a balance point can be reached under the dynamic statusautomatically.

FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of a circuit having two parallel-connectedLLC series resonant DC/DC converters operating in interleaved mode withthe shifted phase, e.g., 90° between them according to the secondpreferred embodiment of the present invention. It includes a DC powersource providing an input voltage Vin, a first to a fourth switchesS1-S4, input capacitors C1-C2, resonant capacitors Cs1-Cs2 and a commonoutput capacitor Co, inductors Ls1-Ls2, Lm1-Lm2, transformers T1-T2 anddiodes D1-D4, and provides an output voltage Vo. FIG. 6 shows thecorresponding operating waveforms of the circuit shown in FIG. 5. S1,S2, S3 and S4 indicate driving signals of switches S1-S4 respectively;i_(D1), i_(D2), i_(D3) and i_(D4) are the current waveforms of therectifying diodes D1, D2, D3 and D4 respectively; Io is the DC componentof the total output current; i_(D1+)i_(D2+)i_(D3+)i_(D4)−Io is the ACcurrent flowing through the output filter (output capacitor) Co.Observing from FIG. 6, the AC current flowing through the output filter(output capacitor) Co of the parallel-connected LLC series resonantDC/DC converters is dramatically decreased so that the volume of theoutput filter (output capacitor) Co is also decreased. The shifted phasebetween the two LLC series resonant DC/DC converters may be other degreebetween 0° and 360°, and the cancellation effect of the AC currentflowing through the output filter varies according to the shifted phase.

According to the aforementioned descriptions, the present inventionprovides a parallel-connected resonant DC/DC converter circuit and acontrolling method thereof, which can be employed to realize a currentbalance among converters when the switching frequencies of all theconverters are the same, which indeed possesses the non-obviousness andthe novelty.

While the invention has been described in terms of what are presentlyconsidered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is tobe understood that the invention need not be limited to the disclosedembodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover variousmodifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similarstructures. Therefore, the above description and illustration should notbe taken as limiting the scope of the present invention which is definedby the appended claims.

1. (canceled)
 2. A parallel-connected resonant converter circuitcomprising: a plurality of resonant converters, each of which has twoinput terminals and two output terminals, a DC power source having apositive and a negative terminals, an output capacitor, and a pluralityof input capacitors, each of the plurality of input capacitors has afirst and a second terminals and is electrically parallel-connected tothe two input terminals of a corresponding one of the plurality ofresonant converters, wherein the output capacitor is electricallyparallel-connected to the two output terminals of each the resonantconverter, and the series-connected resonant converters are connected inparalleled with the DC power source at the positive and the negativeterminals, wherein all the two input terminals of the plurality ofresonant converters are electrically series-connected, and all the twooutput terminals of the plurality of resonant converters areelectrically parallel-connected, and wherein the output capacitor iselectrically connected at one end with one of the two output terminalsof one of the plurality of the resonant converters, and electricallyconnected at the other end with one of the two output terminals ofanother one of the plurality of the resonant converters. 3.-13.(canceled)
 14. A controlling method for a parallel-connected resonantconverter circuit, wherein the circuit comprises a plurality of resonantconverters, each of which has two input terminals and two outputterminals, all the two input terminals of the plurality of resonantconverters are electrically series-connected, and all the two outputterminals of the plurality of resonant converters are electricallyparallel-connected, comprising steps of: (a) causing an input currentflowing through the two input terminals of a specific one of theplurality of resonant converters to rise when an output current flowingthrough the two output terminals of the specific resonant converterrises; (b) causing an input voltage across the two input terminals ofthe specific resonant converter to decrease when the input currentflowing through the two input terminals of the specific resonantconverter rises; (c) causing an input voltage across the two inputterminals of at least one of the remaining ones of the plurality ofresonant converters to rise when the input voltage across the two inputterminals of the specific resonant converter decreases; (d) causing anoutput current flowing through the two output terminals of at least oneof the remaining resonant converter to rise when the input voltageacross the two input terminals of at least one of the remaining resonantconverter rises; and (e) reaching the balance between the specificresonant converter and at least one of the remaining of resonantconverters when a ratio between the output current flowing through thetwo output terminals of the specific resonant converter and the outputcurrent flowing through the at least one of the remaining resonantconverters equals to a ratio between a reciprocal of a DC voltage gainof the specific resonant converter and a reciprocal of a DC voltage gainof the at least one of the remaining resonant converter.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein the plurality of resonant converterscomprise first and second resonant converters, the specific resonantconverter is the first resonant converter and the remaining one is thesecond resonant converter.
 16. The method according to claim 14, whereinthe plurality of resonant converters are operating under an interleavedmode.
 17. The method according to claim 14, wherein the plurality ofresonant converters are operating at substantially the same frequency.18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first and secondresonant converters operate with a 90° phase shift.
 19. The methodaccording to claim 14, wherein the parallel-connected resonant convertercircuit further comprises: a DC power source having positive andnegative terminals; an output capacitor; and a plurality of inputcapacitors, wherein each of the plurality of input capacitors has firstand second terminals and is electrically parallel-connected to the twoinput terminals of the corresponding one of the plurality of resonantconverters, the output capacitor is electrically parallel-connected tothe two output terminals of the corresponding one of the plurality ofresonant converters, and the series-connected resonant converters areconnected in parallel with the DC power source at the positive andnegative terminals.
 20. The method according to claim 14, wherein theplurality of resonant converters includes a series of resonant DC/DCconverter and a parallel resonant DC/DC converter.
 21. The methodaccording to claim 19, wherein the series resonant DC/DC converter is anLLC series resonant DC/DC converter.
 22. The method according to claim19, wherein the parallel resonant DC/DC converter is an LLC parallelresonant DC/DC converter.
 23. A resonant converter circuit, comprising:at least first and second resonant converters, each having two inputterminals and two output terminals; a first input capacitor connected tothe two input terminals of the first resonant converter, and providing afirst input voltage Vin1; a second input capacitor connected to the twoinput terminals of the second resonant converter, and providing a secondinput voltage Vin2; and an output capacitor connected to one of theoutput terminals of the first resonant converter at one end, and one ofthe output terminals of the second resonant converter at the other end,and providing an output voltage Vo, wherein said one of the outputterminals of the first resonant converter yielding a first outputcurrent Io1 is connected to the other one of the output terminals of thesecond resonant converter yielding a second output current Io2.
 24. Thecircuit according to claim 23, wherein the input voltages Vin1 and Vin2are proportional to first and second gains M1 and M2 of the first andsecond resonant converters, respectively.
 25. The circuit according toclaim 23, wherein the first and second resonant converters are operatingunder an interleaved mode.
 26. The circuit according to claim 23,wherein the first and the second resonant converters are operating undersubstantially the same frequency.
 27. The circuit according to claim 23,wherein each of the first and second resonant converters is an LLCseries resonant DC/DC converter.
 28. The circuit according to claim 23,wherein the first and the second resonant converters operate with a 90°phase shift.
 29. The circuit according to claim 23, wherein said each ofthe two input terminals are electrically series-connected and said eachof the two output terminals are electrically parallel-connected.
 30. Thecircuit according to claim 23, wherein the two input terminals of thesecond resonant converter are electrically series-connected with the twoinput terminals of the first resonant converter, and the two outputterminals of the second resonant converter are electricallyparallel-connected with the two output terminals of the first resonantconverter.
 31. The circuit according to claim 23, wherein the differencebetween the output current Io1 and the second output current Io2 isdetermined by the difference between the first gain M1 of the firstresonant converter and the second gain M2 of second resonant converter.32. The circuit according to claim 31, wherein the first gain M1 of thefirst resonant converter is the output voltage Vo over first inputvoltage Vin1, and second gain M2 of the second resonant converter is theoutput voltage Vo over the second input voltage Vin2.
 33. The circuitaccording to claim 31, wherein the first output current Io1 is a firstinput current Iin1 from one of the input terminals of the first resonantconverter over the gain of the first resonant converter M1, and thesecond output current Io2 is a second input current Iin2 from one of theinput terminals of the second resonant converter over the gain of thesecond converter M2.
 34. The circuit according to claim 31, whereinunder a stable condition, the first input current Iin1 is the same asthe second input current Iin2, and the first output current Io1 over thesecond output current Io2 is the same as the gain of the second resonantconverter over the gain of the first resonant converter M1, or the firstinput voltage Vin1 over the second input voltage Vin2.